2. Facebook Growth Strategies Understanding various techniques for growth and engagement in facebook apps NitinRajput Co-founder www.chakpak.com 28th Aug 2009
5. Why Facebook? User growth Approx 6MM users Great overlay of social context Allows for new product features Improves the features
6. Virality Primer 10 users add your app They do some activity like publish feed, send notifications etc 7 users add the app because of the activities done by above Viral coefficient , v.c. = 7/10 = 0.7 This is a single generation. The activities by these 7 added users would cause more users to join in and so on The total # of users of the app is the summation of the Geometric series = 10,7,4.9, … = 10*(1/(1-0.7))=33 approx.
7. Virality Primer Suppose v.c. = 0.9 , then the total users who add the app including these initial 10 users is 10*(1/(1-0.9))=100 Takeaways Virality is a multiplier. Can be a big multiplier Viral coefficient near to 1.0 can lead to a big jump in the user addition Many of the facebook’s distribution flows are aligned to viral flows and many times these are the only options availaible Facebook product = viral distribution + product
8. Facebook distribution options Notifications Requests & Notifications Feeds Profile Emails Status Publisher Boxes Ads Fan Box Connect Comment Widget Share
12. Feeds One of the most potent tool for growth Is the basis of most of the viral loops User should should feel like publishing Context of the flow (you need help) Copy of the feed (you beat 99%) Friends should feel like clicking on it Nice UI/Photos. Explanatory text Call to action Resources http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Using_the_Open_Stream_API http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Facebook.showFeedDialog
16. Notifications Doesn’t require explicit user permission 2 types User-user Can reach to non app users For growth App-user For engagement Sample use cases Challenges, Weekly newsletters, alerts, new features Resources RockYou presentation - http://www.slideshare.net/jefftee/facebook-developers-garage-march-25-2009-2-jia-shen API - http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Notifications.send How spamminess is measured - http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2205007948&topic=13262&start=30&hash=0ce1d00dde55ae7fc1d6f206621bdfc4#post71908 Official policy - http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Additional_Policies_Governing_All_Applications_and_Developers#10._Notifications_Policy
20. Requests & Invitations Were used a lot at the launch time. FB now has allocations buckets Can be used for flows where sending invitation is natural Ask your relatives to join the app Match your friends compatibility with yours Invite members to your cause
27. Profiles & Tabs Several steps involved in adding an app to profile. Is a long term insurance against variance in other growth channels. Is a seed to the viral flows Is a natural fit for some flows/apps fans
28. #6- Emails You can get email send permission Can be used for Newsletters, Alerts As a substitute for app-user notifications Vs Notifications better CTRs Need one time explicit permission from user
36. A high enough virality factor can make the per-visit or lifetime value of a user pay for its advertising costs
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38. Leveraging existing web properties Comment box http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/08/05/facebook-adds-new-way-to-share-web-content-without-leaving-the-page/ Can also publish to a users feed Can be embedded in an app also Share http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/08/05/facebook-adds-new-way-to-share-web-content-without-leaving-the-page/
39. #11 - Measure, Measure, Measure You can only improve what you measure A/B Test Flows (add app before take quiz, or between take quiz and see results? ) Copy (Challenge your friends vs Invite your friends) Measure drop offs in the flow to find hindrances
41. Summary FB Products = (Viral) Distribution + Product Maximize distribution from each of the channel Measure – you would only improve with time Be creative
42. Resources Tracking FB App platform, Who is growing – http://www.insidefacebook.com/ http://www.appdata.com/ FBML and Facebook platform APIs http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Main_Page Guidelines on FB integration points http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Verification_Checklist Platform team blog http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Main_Page